Wednesday, July 28, 2010

No Harm in Asking

 

About a month ago we ordered a wool-sisal rug that was supposed to go with our new family room furniture.  The above picture is how it was advertised on Amazon, with Natural Area Rugs as the vendor.
I had commented to my husband as we contemplated ordering it that the fine print said something to the effect of “This rug is being especially made for you and it is not returnable.”  But how could a sisal rug go wrong, really?
When it arrived we found out just how far off the mark it could be.  It was a shade of pink, not the natural fiber look we had wanted at all.  


We just accepted our bad luck and decided to try to sell it on Craig’s List, figuring a lot of people would want a brand new rug at a discounted price.  When it was at 50% of the price we paid, we had exactly one interested party.
A really nice woman Marion drove over from Georgetown to see the rug, having exclaimed by e-mail “I want your sisal rug.”  But Marion took one look at the rug and said, “It’s pink.  And pink won’t work for me.”  She was very apologetic.  
The rug seemed destined for Value Village, written off as a total loss to us.  But then Marion sent us a message, suggesting we try to return it to the manufacturer since it really wasn’t what was advertised.
To our utter amazement, despite their policy of no returns, they are sending a UPS guy out tomorrow to pick it up.  The woman at Natural Area Rugs told me to roll it up and put garbage bags around it and then add the return number on one of the bags.


It’s rolled, tagged, and waiting and we owe Marion a big thank you for suggesting that we be persistent in asking for a refund.  You never know until you ask.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Marion sounds like one of your Sister Spirits, as in someone who doesn't necessarily take "no" for an answer! :-) Hope the next rug is The Rug.

F.

12:33 PM  
Blogger Kristin said...

Very nice! Good for you (and Marion).

1:08 PM  
Blogger Russell said...

Glad you contacted the manufacturer and are returning that rug.

This is the type of case we often discuss in our business law class -- a sale of goods (tangible, movable property) which does live up to an express warranty (in your case a sample and/or description).

Regardless of the seller's policy, the breach of warranty trumps any no return / no refund policy.

Glad to hear you are getting this matter resolved.

Take care.

3:25 PM  
Blogger Steve Reed said...

Good to know!

Do you think the pink shade would fade as the rug wears? Sometimes natural fibers look a little funky until they fully dry out and get walked on a bit.

1:10 PM  
Blogger Barbara said...

Steve -- The pink shade was woven in that there to stay for the life of the rug. With the right furniture, it would have been exquisite. Mine was obviously not the right furniture.

After this experience, I decided to try to take a pair of shoes that had been sold to me as "final sale -- clearance" and had similar good results. They didn't credit my charge account, but they did give me a store credit for the entire cost of the shoes that were too small (and had been worn for all of an hour on the carpeting at home).

1:41 PM  

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